


i keep the ends out for the tie that binds

by writetherest



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Accidental Marriage, F/F, Little bit of angst, soulmates (kinda), that leads to fluff because it's me, trope mashup fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-27 04:21:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15016562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writetherest/pseuds/writetherest
Summary: She thought she could do this. She thought she could handle it, but now she knows for certain that she can't. She can't attend the wedding. She can't sit there and watch Regina marry Robin when all that she wants is to be the one in his place, just like she is now. This is torture, plain and simple, and Emma can't take it.She lets go of Regina's hands, taking a step backward, ready to run for it, but Tink's voice cuts through and stops her."Ah, just one more thing, Emma. We still need to practice the binding."





	i keep the ends out for the tie that binds

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the trope mashup prompt of soulmate fic and accidental marriage fic over on Tumblr. This is another case of me pulling out an old, unfinished fic and then finishing and editing it until I liked it. I hope the same is true for you, reader. 
> 
> Set in a timeline where Emma doesn’t travel to the past and bring back Marian in 3x22. 
> 
> Title taken from the Johnny Cash song I Walk The Line.

"We need a groom." Tink says as her eyes scan the small crowd gathered. Everyone already has a position, though. Everyone, that is, except…

"Emma!"

"Huh?" Emma's head snaps up from where she's been hiding on the patio, playing on her phone and distinctly trying to avoid taking any kind of notice to what is going on around her.

"Emma, come up here, please. We need a stand in for the groom."

"I – you need – what?" Emma asks, praying that she's somehow just misheard what Tink is asking of her.

"Really, Miss Swan, have you gone deaf?" Regina asks from where she stands in the doorway, Henry in tow, ready to walk her down the carpeted aisle that's been laid out in Regina's back yard. She's only teasing though, Emma can tell by her tone, and so she smiles before she glances up to where Tink stands in the center of the wedding arch.

"No, I just – why me?"

"You're the only one that doesn't have a job yet! Come on, it's just for rehearsal. You don't have to do anything but stand here, really." Tink coaxes.

"Why do you need me, then?" Emma mumbles as she moves forward, wishing she were going anywhere else in the world. She'd even go back to the Enchanted Forest if it meant getting away from this.

"We need to rehearse, silly." Tink laughs.

"You do realize that with Robin and his Merry Men gone off on their bachelor adventure in the woods," Emma does her best to keep the scorn out of her voice, "that this rehearsal is the farthest possible thing from what the wedding will actually be like, right?"

"We need to rehearse!" Tink says again, her tone a little harder, and when Emma looks at her, she can see that her hands are shaking just the littlest bit.

Oh.

 _She_ needs to rehearse. This is Tink's first official duty after getting her wings back, so Emma guesses she's a little nervous.

"Okay. Fine. Here I am." Emma takes the spot to Tink's left, staring down at the ground instead of looking up the aisle to where Regina will be in a few moments. "Let's get this over with."

"Alright, here we go!" Tink claps her hands together and music begins to quietly play as David and Kathryn walk down the aisle. Kathryn is Regina's maid of honor and David has been tapped to play the part of Little John in this rehearsal. Emma supposes it would be amusing to watch them walk down the aisle together if this were another time for another occasion, but right now, she's doing her best to keep her mind blank.

Once they're in place, Snow comes down the aisle, taking the place of Roland who will be carrying the rings and the binding cord. For rehearsal purposes, she's just carrying a length of ordinary rope – it looks kind of like the rope that they'd used to lower Emma down the mine shaft to save Henry and Archie with, she thinks – and no rings, thank god. There's no way Emma could make it through sliding a ring on Regina's finger.

It's after Snow has settled in that the music changes and Emma feels her stomach flip and her heart drop. Her eyes seem to have a mind of their own because even though the last thing in the world that Emma wants to do is watch Regina walk down the aisle, she cannot tear her gaze away. Even as she screams inside her head to just blink or look away or something, her vision stays focused. All she can see is Regina and Henry walking towards her. And all she can think is how much she wishes this were actually real.

Regina and Henry stop in front of her and Henry carefully places his mother's hands into Emma's, holding his own on top and giving them his blessing. Emma feels her eyes well up and then she does manage to look down, to stare at their hands instead of Regina, because Regina cannot know, she cannot see what is so plainly written all over Emma's face.

Tink goes through the words of the ceremony, but Emma doesn't hear a word she says. All she hears is the rushing of blood in her ears and the pounding of her heart. She feels like she's barely hanging on to her composure and it's all she can do to stay put and not wrench her hands away and take off at a run.

She thought she could do this. She thought she could handle it, but now she knows for certain that she can't. She can't attend the wedding. She can't sit there and watch Regina marry Robin when all that she wants is to be the one in his place, just like she is now. This is torture, plain and simple, and Emma can't take it.

She lets go of Regina's hands, taking a step backward, ready to run for it, but Tink's voice cuts through and stops her.

"Ah, just one more thing, Emma. We still need to practice the binding."

"Tink." Emma's voice is weak and she's probably begging but she doesn't care. She just needs out.

"Oh don't worry, it won't actually bind you." Tink actually laughs, as though that's what Emma's worried about. "Snow?"

Snow steps forward with the rope and hands it to Tink. She says some words about the binding cord, how it will hold True Loves together forever, and all the other platitudes of the Enchanted Forest that Emma really doesn't want to hear right now. She doesn't want to know about how this will bind Robin and Regina together forever. She doesn't want to think about how they are True Loves foretold by pixie dust or some bullshit. Because Emma loves Regina and shouldn't that count for something? Shouldn't the Savior get to have her happy ending too?

Tink leans over and begins wrapping the rope around their wrists, the rope looping over and under and pulling them tight together. Emma finds her fingers interlacing with Regina's of their own accord and Regina doesn't pull away, more than likely because with the slight tension on the rope, she can't. But Emma thinks she feels some pressure from Regina's fingers against her own too and it makes her heart soar and ache all at once because this will be Regina and Robin soon and god, she just wants it to be her.

Tink says the little enchantment that goes along with the binding and she tosses her hands up in a show of showering them with pixie dust, which is what will actually happen at the ceremony – it's the dust that truly does the binding, or at least that's what Emma understands – even though there's none in her hands at the moment. No pixie dust or real golden binding cord or magic at all.

Except.

Except that before Emma can pull her hands away and get the hell out of here and rebuild all her walls, the rope begins to glow bright red and suddenly it tightens around their wrists. There's a tingling and warmth spreading into her skin from all the places that the rope is touching and her heart feels suddenly full enough to burst. She looks up then and sees that Regina's eyes have gone wide at whatever is happening with them and the rope.

Then, just as suddenly as it started, the rope stops glowing and somehow falls away from their hands to land at their feet in the shape of a heart. Emma notices that her hands are still holding onto Regina's and the rope is no longer white, but golden now. For one spectacular second, her heart leaps and a smile spreads across her face as she realizes what has happened.

But a second later Regina realizes too. And her reaction is the exact opposite of Emma's.

**

"What the hell have you done?" Regina is practically snarling, just as she has been from the moment she realized what happened.

They've relocated into her study, just Emma, Regina, and Tink, and once again Emma finds herself wishing she were anywhere else. It's been a long time since she's felt the heat of Regina's anger like this and whereas it used to fuel her own emotions, now it just leaves her feeling hurt and empty.

"Regina, I swear to you that I don't know –" Tink tries again, but Regina is having none of it.

"You said it was just a rehearsal. You said _nothing_ would happen."

"And it shouldn't have. I don't understand how it did. I didn't use the binding cord or the pixie dust. There was no magic involved so –"

"Well there had to have been because the damn cord was glowing."

"Regina –" Emma tries because she's got a sinking feeling in her gut that there was magic involved, just not from Tink.

"No." Regina snaps. "You don't get to speak."

And they're back to that again, Emma thinks as she sits back down, biting hard on her tongue and forcing back tears.

"What's happened?" The door to the study opens and The Blue Fairy enters. "Snow called and said there had been an incident and that I might be needed."

Regina growls as she turns on Blue. "What happened is that this sorry excuse for a fairy somehow managed to bind Emma and I together during the rehearsal for my wedding!"

Blue blinks as she looks from Emma to Regina and then finally over to Tink. "I thought I told you there was to be no using pixie dust until I gave it to you. Did you not learn your lesson about stealing the last time?"

"I didn't use any dust!" Tink huffs.

"She didn't." Emma offers. "She didn't even use a real binding cord. It was just plain rope."

"Well, then, Regina, you must be mistaken. If there was not a real binding cord or pixie dust used then it isn't possible for you to be bound."

"The rope glowed red. It tightened around our wrists. It felt –" Regina stops there and Emma wonders why, but doesn't have time to think on it.

"It's possible that there may have been some sort of a spell cast, but I assure you that it could not have been a binding. Here, I'll prove it." Blue pulls out a wand and waves it over both Emma and Regina, a smug smirk on her face.

The smirk fades quickly though as she waves the wand back over them. "But that's not possible."

"That's what I said!" Tink exclaims.

"Wait, are you saying we really are bound?" Emma asks. "Like, married?"

"I – it shouldn't be possible – but – yes."

"This is a disaster!" Regina roars. "Undo it. Undo it right now."

Tink looks like she wants to shrink to the size that Emma always thought she was based on the movies she'd seen. Blue stands her ground just a little bit better, but not by much.

"Regina, you know as well as I do that bindings are –"

"To be for True Loves. Miss Swan is most certainly _not_ my True Love." Emma flinches visibly at that, but Regina's so worked up, she doesn't even notice. "There is no way we should ever have been bound in the first place. So you will find a way to undo this."

"Hey," Emma finds herself piping up, unable to stop the words, "is the thought of being married to me really so bad?"

Regina spins on her and Emma wishes she had never asked. "Yes! Of course it is. I am to be marrying my soul mate in three days time and now I am stuck bound to you! I swore that I would never again be tied to someone who didn't –" Regina's words cut off but Emma knows what she means. She's talking about her marriage to the king. In Regina's eyes, being married to Emma is just as bad as being married to Leopold. Emma turns away to hide the tears that she can't stop from spilling onto her cheeks. Regina doesn't even notice, her focus shifted back to Tink and Blue.

"I will be marrying Robin on our wedding day, so you had damn well better figure out what needs to be done to undo this monstrosity!" And with that, she storms out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Tink and Blue leave a few moments later, whispering heatedly back and forth.

Emma collapses into a chair and cries.

**

"It wasn't you." Emma says when Tink opens the door to her room at Granny's a few hours later.

"What?"

"The magic, the binding, it wasn't you." Emma says she comes into the room, beginning to pace back and forth. "I think it was me."

Tink's eyes widen. "You?"

Emma shrugs. "We know I have magic. And I think – I mean – my magic is unpredictable at times. I don't exactly have control over it yet. And you obviously didn't mean to bind Regina and I but –"

"But?" Tink asks, trying to coax the rest of the confession out of Emma.

"But I think I did. I wished – I was thinking, at that moment, about how I wished it was real. And I think my magic just… made it happen."

"Emma." Tink gasps, watching as the savior collapses on her bed, head in her hands and shoulders shaking. "Are you saying that you wanted to be marrying Regina?"

"Yes." The word comes out muffled, but Tink still hears it.

"But – but that means –"

Emma looks up from her hands, her eyes and nose red. "Yep."

"Oh my god!" Tink gasps. "But Regina doesn't – she doesn't know, does she?"

"No." Emma whispers.

"Why haven't you told her?"

"She's marrying another man, Tink. I think it's pretty obvious where her feelings lie, especially after her blow up today." Emma wipes at her eyes and clears her throat. "That's why I'm here. I know what you and Blue said, but there's gotta be a way to unbind us, right?"

Tink frowns. "Emma, binding is supposed to be a life long thing. It isn't like your marriages here. You can't just get a divorce."

"So there's no way to unbind us?"

"Well, I mean, I suppose if one of you died then –"

"Whoa! I don't think either Regina or I want to die right now, okay? There's gotta be something else." Emma looks at Tink and sees it. The look on her face that says that there is another way. "Tink? There is something else, isn't there?"

"Binding is supposed to keep True Loves together forever. Besides death, the only way to break it would be to prove that you no longer wish to be with that person… by giving up the thing you love most forever."

"Jesus!" Emma shouts, getting up from the bed and resuming her pacing. "What the hell is it with you guys and your fucking extremes? True Love and soul mates and binding forever and if you want to get out of it you have to die or give up the thing you love most forever? You all are fucking crazy!"

"I'm sorry, Emma. Blue and I have talked it over and I've been researching all night. Those are the only two things that I've found. We'll just have to tell Regina that –"

"No." Emma shakes her head.

"No? Emma, what do you mean?"

"We're not telling Regina anything, except that her wedding is back on. I'll do it. I'll unbind us."

"Emma! You can't kill yourself!" Tink gasps in horror, rushing over to grab Emma and try to shake some sense into her.

"No, Tink, I'm not gonna kill myself."

Tink's eyes widen as she realizes what Emma means. "But Emma, giving up the thing you love most –"

"Storybrooke." Emma says, her eyes shining with tears. "I love Regina but I love Storybrooke and everyone in it, too. My son and my parents, my little brother… they're what I have to give up to unbind us. I can't stay here and I can't see any of them anymore."

"But you can't!"

Emma smiles, even as tears slip down her cheeks. "You said it yourself, Tink. It's the only other way." She breathes in a shaky breath and wipes at her cheeks. "I've still got my place in New York. I'll go back there. Henry will be with Regina and they'll have Robin and Roland, a whole new family. And my parents have the baby. They'll be fine. They'll all be fine."

Tink frowns as she looks at Emma. Maybe everyone else will be fine, but will Emma? "Emma, you love Regina. How can you –"

"You heard her today. She doesn't want to be bound to me. She wants to marry Robin. He's her True Love."

"But –" Tink suddenly isn't so sure. Emma's magic may be powerful, that's very true, but for a binding to work the parties need to be soul mates.

"Don't." Emma shakes her head, not wanting to hear what Tink may say. It's easier if she believes that there are no feelings on Regina's part. "I love her. And that's exactly how I can do this. Because I believe that when you love someone you should be unselfish enough to give them what they want. She wants to marry Robin and so I will give her that. She deserves to be happy. I _want_ to give her that."

Tink feels tears well in her own eyes as she realizes what Emma is willing to do for Regina.

"I – will I be able to say goodbye to Henry? Just – I don't want to leave without telling him goodbye."

"Yes, of course." Tink reaches out, squeezing her arm. "I'll wait for you at the line. We'll do it there, so once you cross over, it will be done."

Emma nods. "Thanks, Tink."

"Emma." She calls, watching as Emma turns around in the doorway. "Are you going to tell Regina?"

Emma just shakes her head and leaves. Tink sighs sadly.

**

Emma's eyes are red when she climbs out of the Bug at the town line. Tink's heart breaks for her as she moves forward, ready to try and talk her out of this once again, but Emma just shakes her head.

"The kid gets it. He – uh – he knows that Regina deserves a happy ending and that that's why I have to do this." Emma says, trying to convince herself as much as she is Tink.

It had been the hardest thing she'd ever done, trying to explain to Henry what needed to happen and why. He'd cried and fought her, until she'd broken down sobbing too, begging him to understand.

_"Please, Henry. Please. She's not a villain. She's your Mom. I have to give her the happy ending she wants. I have to. She already gave you up once and it nearly killed her. You can't be without each other. But you can be without me. You'll be fine without me." She'd assured through tears that clouded her vision and snot that nearly choked her._

_"But what about you?" Henry had asked, tears slipping down his cheeks but nowhere near as hysterical as Emma. Resignation had already started to set in. "You won't be fine without us."_

_Emma had smiled and kissed his forehead, pouring as much love, if not more, into that kiss as she had the day she'd nearly lost him forever. "But you'll be fine. Both of you. And that's what matters."_

Emma shakes her head, shakes away the memories and the pain and forces another smile. "I couldn't tell my parents… I wrote them a note. Regina too. Henry said he'd explain it to my parents." She lets out a ragged laugh. "I'm leaving my eleven-year-old son to explain why I'm leaving town and never coming back. God." Emma brushes away the tears that slip down her cheeks.

"Emma, you don't have to –" Tink tries again.

"Yes. I do." She is resolute. "So, please, don't make this any harder than it is, Tink. Just… unbind me and let me go."

Tink nods and takes Emma's hands, saying the words that she'd read over and over after Emma left and making Emma go through a ritual of sorts, promising to give up the thing she loves most. It ends with Tink holding up the rope that had bound her to Regina and Emma cutting it with a knife. It feels like the knife is slicing through her heart as she severs the rope and she barely makes it back into her car for the tears blurring her vision and the pain stabbing at her.

"Goodbye, Emma." Tink whispers, watching as she drives away.

Emma crosses the town line and cannot help but remember the last time she left Storybrooke behind for New York. She only wishes that her memories could be erased once again, but that's the price she's paying for her magic and her feelings for Regina.

She's cursed to remember, instead of forgetting.

**

"I was thinking," Regina says as she looks at herself in the full length mirror, running her hands over the white dress that she thought she'd never wear, her fingers shaking just the smallest bit for reasons that she doesn't want to think about, "that perhaps while Robin and I are on our honeymoon, you could go to New York and visit Emma. Maybe convince her to stop this silliness and come home."

Henry's head snaps up from where he's been fiddling with his tie. He's been quiet and withdrawn these past two days, ever since Emma left with nothing more than a note that made little sense to explain herself and it's just one more reason for Regina to curse Emma Swan. She could hurt Regina by leaving – not that Regina would admit that she had – but she couldn't hurt Henry without drawing Regina's ire. "Wh-what?"

Regina turns to look at him with a frown. "Henry, just because your mother has decided to run off to New York on a whim, it doesn't mean that I would keep you from her. Surely you know –"

"Mom." Henry says and there's such gravity to it that Regina stops cold. "I can't go to visit Emma."

"Henry, the line is no longer keeping us here in Storybrooke and you've always been able to leave so –"

"No." Henry shakes his head, his voice growing louder, angrier. "Stop. Why are you doing this? Why are you acting like this? Why –"

"Henry." Tink is standing in the doorway. Her voice stops his barrage of questions, causing both he and Regina to look at her. "She doesn't know."

"What?" Henry whispers, shaking his head. "No. Emma had to have told her. Why wouldn't she tell her?"

"I don't know what?" Regina looks from Tink to Henry, trying to understand what she's clearly missing. "Emma had to have told me what? What are you talking about?"

"I can't go visit Emma." Henry repeats, his voice cracking. "I can't see her ever again. None of us can. That was her price."

"Her price for what?" Regina huffs in exasperation. "What has she done now that could possibly –"

"She unbound herself from you." Henry tells her.

He states it so simply, but Regina feels like the air has suddenly all disappeared from the room and she's been punched in the gut on top of it. She turns to Tink with wide eyes. "What?"

"You said that you wanted to be unbound from her." Tink speaks plainly too and Regina can't understand how they can both be this matter of fact right now. Don't they understand what's happened? Hell, does she understand what's happened? No. The answer is no. Because surely Emma wouldn't have – she couldn't have.

"Didn't you stop to wonder how it was that you were suddenly able to marry Robin?" Tink asks, raising an eyebrow.

"You – I told you to unbind us – I told you and then you said – and I thought –" Regina stumbles over the words, realizing that she hadn't stopped to wonder about the how when Tink had told her the wedding could still be on. She had simply assumed that the fairy had figured out a spell or a loophole.

"I tried to tell you that it wasn't possible, at least not without a huge sacrifice but you… weren't exactly listening to reason then." Tink shrugs.

Regina knows it's true, thinking back on the scene in her study – her angry words and the way she'd snapped at Emma. She'd thought nothing of it when Tink came to her the next day and told her that she was free to marry Robin. She'd thought nothing of the fact that she'd received a note from Emma saying she had to go to New York and how sorry she was and that she wished Regina all the happiness in the world. Now it's all she can think about.

"A huge sacrifice." Regina repeats the words, the truth slowly seeping into her mind. Emma had made a sacrifice. For her.

"The thing she loves most." Henry sighs and he just sounds tired. Tired of magic and curses and sacrifices and all of it. "Sound familiar?" Tired and bitter. No longer the little boy who believed in fairy tales, but now the young man who has seen their dark side. He shakes his head. "It's almost time. I gotta go make sure everyone's ready."

"Henry." Regina calls after him, but Tink puts a hand on her arm.

"Let him go. He just needs a minute. He'll be fine."

"Why?" Regina gasps, spinning on Tink. "Why would she –"

"Why do you think?" Tink says, her tone harsh. Then she shakes her head and offers a small, sad smile to Regina. "Because it was what you wanted. And she would've done anything to give you a happy ending. Even give up hers. Now come on, Henry's right. It's time for you to get married."

Regina follows behind her, her mind swirling in fog as Tink's words replay in her head.

**

"Henry." Regina grips his arm tightly, unable to move. The music is playing, the wedding party going down the aisle, but she stands still. There's so much she wants to say, but she can't seem to find the words, so she just holds tight to him, unmoving.

"Mom, it's okay." He assures her, his voice soft. "I don't blame you."

"I didn't – I wouldn't have –" But would she? Emma had taken the choice away from her by not telling her, but Regina knows how she had acted in the study that day. She knows that the Evil Queen is still a part of her, still lurking beneath the surface. The Evil Queen would've done anything, hurt anyone, to get what she wanted. Hell, had done all of those things. So, would Regina have stopped Emma from unbinding them if she had known the consequences? With the way her heart aches now, she has to believe that she would have, but she cannot be sure of it.

"Emma explained. It wasn't anybody's fault. And she's right – you deserve to finally get your happy ending." He offers her a smile, putting his hand over the one on his arm, squeezing softly. "It's okay."

"I'm sorry." She whispers, her eyes tearing up as the wedding march begins. It isn't enough, but it's all she has. Because once again, Regina has destroyed something while trying to find her own happiness. But instead of the hatred that is usually tossed her way, she's being met with love and understanding from her son and from the person who had sacrificed for her.

Henry starts to move them forward slowly, the smile still in place. He looks at the end of the aisle where Robin stands and then glances back to her. "I promised her I wouldn't hate him."

"What?"

Henry just laughs softly. "She knew I could never hate you."

She looks from Henry to the end of the aisle and her footsteps falter for just a moment. She knows that it's supposed to be Robin waiting for her there, looking handsome in his tuxedo. But the sight of him and not Emma, in that god-awful leather jacket, fidgeting at the end of the aisle, is a bit of a shock.

They make it to the end of the aisle and Henry gives her his blessing, kissing her cheek. "I love you, Mom." He whispers in her ear and for just a moment, she feels the bliss that this day is meant to bring.

But then Tink begins to speak and she looks over at the person across from her and his eyes are blue not green and his hair is brown not blonde. She blinks, trying to shove all thoughts of Emma away. Once she's married to Robin, she'll figure out a way to get Emma back to Storybrooke and in her – no, _Henry's_ \- life where she belongs. Surely there's a loophole somewhere. She'll find it. As soon as she marries Robin.

But she won't ruin her wedding day. Her happy day.

Except it doesn't feel very happy. Somehow it all feels very wrong now.

This is supposed to be her happy ending. She's getting everything she's ever wanted – she's marrying her soulmate, her son is hers and hers alone, Emma is gone from Storybrooke forever – and that's where her stomach drops. Because as much as she may have wished for it before, she hasn't wanted Emma gone in a long time. In fact, it's impossible to imagine her life – indeed her happy ending – without Emma now.

Emma. Stubborn, idiotic Emma who had given up the thing she loves most, just so that Regina could be happy. So why isn't she happy? If Emma gave up so much for her, then Regina should at least be able to feel happiness at this wedding.

The cord is wrapped around their wrists, gleaming gold in the sunlight and the hands holding hers aren't soft and sure, but instead calloused and hard. Her fingers thread through his, but they don't feel like they fit, not the way Emma's had. Tink is saying the words but Regina is looking at Robin, the man she's supposed to spend the rest of her life with and all she can think about is Emma.

It's as Tink is throwing the pixie dust into the air that she realizes that this – Robin – isn't what she wants at all. All she wants is Emma.

"No." She gasps, trying to pull her hands away, but the cord and Robin hold tight and the dust falls onto them.

**

Emma opens the door to her apartment, exhausted after her run that has still done nothing to make her forget that Regina is now officially married to Robin and probably off on some fairy tale honeymoon, so it's time for plan B – drinking away her feelings. But first she needs a shower.

She tosses her keys and water bottle on the table by the door and is pulling her sweat-soaked tank top over her head when she feels it – the presence of another person in her apartment. She spins around, her shirt falling from her fingers, and freezes.

"Regina!" She gasps. "What are you doing here?" And then, before she can reply, "Get out!"

"Emma."

"Seriously, Regina, get out of here!" Emma reaches out, grabbing Regina's arm and moving her toward the door. "You have to get out of here right now. You cannot be here."

"Because I'm the thing you love most?" Regina raises an eyebrow at her, standing steadfast, refusing to move.

Emma blinks. "Part of it." She admits, even though it hurts, because maybe that will make Regina see that she has to leave now. But Regina doesn't move. "Regina, go!"

"Why are you so worried about me being here?" Regina asks, her eyes raking over Emma's sweaty body.

"Don't do this." Emma says, shaking her head, turning away from Regina and moving over to the liquor cabinet, pouring herself a drink.

"Do what, Emma?"

Emma swallows down the whiskey she's poured into the tumbler before turning around. "Don't fuck this up!" She hisses. "You wanted us to be unbound. We're unbound! Don't fuck that up by doing something stupid."

"And how, Emma, could I fuck that up?" Regina asks, moving closer to her.

"Surely by now you know that the price for us becoming unbound was for me to give up the thing I love most. You've already tossed that in my face. So, I don't know what you're doing here, Regina, but after everything I gave up for you to be happy, you need to stop trying to sabotage your happy ending and get out of here. Now."

"And what if I'm not sabotaging my happy ending? What if I'm here to get it?"

"Go back to your husband, Regina." Emma says weakly, because she cannot do this. She cannot listen to this, not when Regina has to know that Emma is in love with her and is still playing this game for some reason.

"I don't have a husband." Regina says calmly. "I have a wife."

"No." Emma shakes her head.

"Or at least I will, when she comes back to Storybrooke with me."

"No." Emma says louder, her hand shaking around the glass she's clutching. "Stop it, Regina."

"Emma." Regina moves closer, reaching out to touch her.

"Stop it!" Emma shouts, throwing the glass across the room, both of them flinching as it hits the wall, shattering into pieces. "Stop it, Regina."

Regina grabs Emma's hands, holding on to them, even as Emma struggles weakly against her hold, tears pouring down her cheeks. She is a mess, but Regina thinks she's the most beautiful mess she's ever seen.

"I didn't marry him." Regina says, catching Emma's eyes and forcing her to keep eye contact. "I walked down that aisle and I let them wrap that cord around my wrists and all I could think about was you. How it had felt with you standing there with me. How right it had been. And how wrong it was with him. How I should've known as soon as the binding worked with you. But I was scared and I took what I thought was the easy way. But I knew it was wrong. And Tink said the words and she threw the dust and I tried to stop it but I couldn't. I couldn't pull away. But it didn't matter."

Regina lets go of Emma's hands and moves up to hold either side of her face. "It didn't matter, because it didn't work. The real binding cord and the real pixie dust and it didn't work. Because Robin isn't my soulmate. He isn't my happy ending, Emma. Maybe he never was. Or maybe he was, but it changed. I changed. And my happy ending changed too. It's not Robin. It's you, Emma."

"You didn't want me." Emma's voice is so small that Regina almost doesn't hear it. But there is so much hurt in those four words that she can't miss it. Nor can she miss when Emma straightens and pulls away, her words stronger. "You didn't want me then and the only reason you want me now is because it didn't work with Robin. And I'm sorry about that. But I can't be your second choice, Regina. I think that you should go." Emma turns away from her.

"No! No, I will not go. Damn it, Emma, did you hear what I said? I wanted to stop it before it didn't work. Before I ever knew that it wouldn't work, I knew in my heart that it wouldn't work. Because it wasn't what I wanted. He wasn't what I wanted. You were. You are. You, Emma."

Emma still won't turn around or look at her.

"Listen to me!" Regina yells then, grabbing Emma and spinning her around, shoving her back against the wall. Her arm comes up across Emma's chest, so similar to that terrible day in the hospital supply closet when she thought she was going to lose Henry. The fear is the same now, pounding through her veins. Only this time, she's the one holding Emma down. She's the one fighting, unwilling to give up Emma.

"You are my choice, Emma. My only choice. Mine. No one else's. Not fate or prophecy or pixie dust or my mother or a book or anything but _mine_. I want you. I choose you. You told me not to sabotage my happy ending. Now I'm asking you for the same thing. You were willing to give up everything for my happiness. So why won't you take everything for both of us instead?"

Tears slide down Emma's cheeks as she stares at Regina. This is what she wants, what she's hoped for and dreamed of. "Regina."

"I love you, Emma." Regina says then, as she allows her own tears to fall, the words that she hadn't said yet, the words that Emma needed to hear. "I love you. I think I have for a very long time. But I was so afraid that you couldn't love me that I tried to take the easy way. I tried to fall back on a guarantee from some pixie dust. I should've known better, and I'm so sorry that I hurt you, Emma. But I need you to listen to me, I need you to understand. I love you. I want to be with you. I want to give you everything. So please, come back to Storybrooke with me."

Emma nods slowly.

"Okay?" Regina asks, a smile lighting up her face.

"Okay." She says, and then Regina is leaning forward, kissing her. She tastes salt, from her sweat and tears, but she also tastes Regina and feels the arms around her, holding her, loving her.

"I love you, Regina." She says against her lips, finally speaking the words out loud. "I love you so much. I only want you to be happy. I only want –"

"You make me happy, Emma." Regina cuts her off. "You love me. You know me – all of me – and you still love me. And that's the greatest gift I could ever ask for. That's all I'll ever need."

**

"Are you sure about this?" Emma asks, stopping the car just outside the town line, a hint of uncertainty still playing across her face.

Regina reaches over and entwines their fingers just like she had on the day that she had accidentally become Emma's wife. "I am more sure of this than I've ever been of anything."

Emma kisses her and then pushes down the gas pedal, crossing the line. As she does, she feels the rush of her magic returning, but more than that, she feels the fullness of her heart. This place, these people are the thing she loves most.

And now as she looks over at the woman that she knows she's bound to for the rest of her life – even without magic and pixie dust – she knows that she'll never have to give them up again.


End file.
